Friday Stream of Consciousness – 123

What’s the scariest movie of all time? I’d give that award to Silence of the Lambs. It’s also one of my favorite five or so movies of all time. I love a good scary movie. Fill in the blank in the comments section: The scariest movie of all time is __________.

There are some other movies that aren’t that scary as a whole, but have some terrifying scenes—Flatliners, Shutter Island, and … (fill in the blank in the comments section).

Halloween. I still don’t know what I’m going to dress up as. As a kid, this is a day I would have been anticipating for weeks, if not months. Now, it’s all about the kiddos and trying not to eat myself into obesity.

What age do you think you’re too old to trick or treat anymore? I think it’s somewhere around 14.

Ebola. I’m fatigued of people arguing about how seriously we should take this whole thing. To me, if it’s likely fatal and contagious, it’s worth taking seriously.

I was watching the head of the CDC live several weeks ago when he remarked it was not a significant threat to the United States and was highly unlikely to spread outside of West Africa. I said out loud at the time, “That’s the kind of statement that ends up making a man famous for all the wrong reasons.”

Since this blog is about leadership, here’s the lesson: Don’t make statements like that. If even one case turned up outside West Africa (or even the United States), it ploughs under your credibility—even if what you said at the time was a legitimate position to take.

Unless you can be 100% sure (he wasn’t) and you have complete control over the situation (he doesn’t), when handling sensitive situations…don’t overpromise. Your word means more than you think. Save the absolute declarations for things like, “Jesus is Lord.”

If you say, “If we reach this goal, our church will grow to 10,000,” or something like that…your word will mean less and less over time. Under-promising while over-delivering is a better way to go about the task of leadership. Or, label audacious goals as such, not as prophecy.

Basketball season is here, and I want to hear your predictions for the Finals. I’ll take the Spurs against the field, with Cleveland coming out of the East. I think they have to beat Miami to get there—and that will be a great series.

The new Taylor Swift album (a necessity for a dad of tween daughters) is growing on me–slowly.

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We just finished the theming and artwork for Advent/Christmas at New Vintage Church. It’s one of my favorites of all time.

No, the Giants aren’t a dynasty. You can’t be a wild-card team and be a dynasty. If you can’t win your own division, you aren’t a dynasty. This doesn’t take anything away from the Giants impressive postseason accomplishments. But, come on. They finished 10 games under .500 last year and made the playoffs this year by winning a “play-in” game to the Wildcard position—and played one of the weakest playoff schedules in history. That’s no dynasty.

That doesn’t take anything away from their fantastic run. Congratulations to them. They are champions like the 2007 – 2011 New York Giants in football…or something like that. Baseball, unlike football, gives us a huge sample size and thus a better picture of who the dynasties are. The last legit mention of dynasty would be the Torre-era Yankees.

We have an election coming next week. I believe the Senate changes hands and the Republicans pick up ten more house seats. It’ll be interesting to see how President Obama handles such an outcome.

One movie going under the radar is the documentary of Michael Franzese, a former mobster turned Christian. I’ve read a lot about the mafia and love mobster movies and documentaries. Franzese’s story is truly remarkable. I’m hoping the conversion aspect of the film isn’t too cheesy, but I love whenever a story of redemption makes it into the public square. I’m going to see it.

Speaking of movies, I cannot wait for UNBROKEN to come out at Christmas time. That is one of my favorite books of all time–and my favorite memoir. The only memoir I’ve read that can compete is James Frey’s a Million Little Pieces, which turned out to have its issues.

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Dr. Tim Spivey is Lead Planter of New Vintage Church in San Diego, California. He is the author of numerous articles and one book, "Jesus: The Powerful Servant." A sought after speaker for events, Tim also serves as Adjunct Professor of Religion at Pepperdine University. Tim serves as a church consultant, and his writings are featured on ChurchLeaders.com, Church Executive magazine, Faith Village, Sermon Central, and Giving Rocket.